Wamwort is one of the text adventures submitted to MicroHobby magazine’s “Grand Adventure Contest”, of which only a snapshot of one of its two parts had been preserved until now.
Let’s take a look at the review published in issue 205 of MicroHobby:
Wamwort, by David Calandra Reula, from Santander.
You are Hatreb Hido and you have received a telegram from your friend Kelon, who is in distress on an island in the Indian Ocean. It has good graphics, but the script is a bit loose.
In addition to MicroHobby, the game was also pitched to Dro Soft. Here’s the response letter to its author:
DroSoft February 1989
Dear David:
We have been studying the game you sent us entitled “Wamwort: The Adventure” and we are going to tell you a little about the impression it has made on us:
- The game seems quite original to us since it has a story that’s out of the ordinary.
- It has some pretty good graphics, taking into account the possibilities of the Spectrum.
The reason, or reasons, why we have not decided to distribute your game is for two reasons above all:
- The first, and most important, is that we’re following the policy of not distributing any game that’s not at least on two different computers.
- The second is that the conversational games market is already very saturated and we don’t get anything out of this genre unless it’s a really good game.
Anyway, we hope you don’t get demoralized for not having accepted it, and we hope that you’ll send us any other game that you make in the future.
DroSoft:
Marta
Although only one load had been preserved until now, this adventure actually consists of two parts and, in addition, there’s two (and a half) different versions of the game. These are the following:
- The first one is a version without the AD branding and “copyright 1988 Dinamic Software” in which, for some reason, verbs must be written in the first person of the present (“MIRO PAJAROS”, “TIRO ARENA”).
- The second version, also from 1988, already comes with the branding of “Aventuras Dinamic” and, apart from adapting the graphics of each screen so that they appear in a Carvalho-style window, it changes the verbs to use the imperative ( “MIRA MESA”), which is appreciated.
- The third “half” version dates from 1989 and is the one which already existed as a snapshot (possibly the one sent to Dro Soft?). The changes from the previous one are minimal in its code and the copyright is now attributed to “Aventuras Dinamic”. Among the dumps, a revision of part two hasn’t been found but, had it existed, the changes would surely be equally minimal.
If you dare to try finish it, keep in mind that the game sometimes doesn’t register all keystrokes if you type quickly, I recommend to either take it easy or use an throttled emulator.
The access code to part two is: 67123
Here’s all the objects and verbs (along with their synonyms) recognized by both parts of each version, so that you won’t go crazy looking for the correct words:
Old version:
Part 1
Objects
"MESA","AZUFRE","SALITRE","SABLE","MONEDAS","CABEZAS DE PIEDRA","CAZADOR","CASCO","ESPANTAPAJAROS" "PUEBLO","ARENA","PAJAROS","KELON EL DRUIDA","MATORRALES","ARBUSTOS","HOYO EN EL SUELO","AGUJERO EN EL TECHO","MONOS TIRANDOTE COCOS","CARBON","POLVORA","CERILLA","ESCUDO"
Verbs
"MIRO","VEO ","EXAM" "VOY ","CAMI" "COJO" "DEJO" "I ","INV ","INVE" "TIRO","ARRO","ECHO" "HABL" "EMPU" "PONG" "CORT" "MEZC","JUNT" "ESCA","TREP" "N ","S ","E ","O " "LLAM" "ENCI" "ABRO" "MATO","ROMP" "CAVO" "BUSC"
Part 2
Objects
"TRAMPILLA EN EL SUELO","TONELES","ORQUILLA","FREGADERA","BASURERA","CASCARA","PLANTAS","TUBERIAS","BOTON DE ALARMA","LLAVE" "TRAMPILLA ABIERTA","GUARDIAN INCONSCIENTE","TRAJE","PAPEL","ARMARIO","PAPIRO","GUARDIAS","GUARDIAS","GUARDIAS","GUARDIAS" "PUERTA","SOLDADO VIGILANDO EL AVION","GENTE ESPERANDO","CERRADURA PARA ARRANCAR"
Verbs
"MIRO","VEO ","EXAM" "VOY ","CAMI","ENTR","E ","O ","N ","S " "COJO" "DEJO" "I ","INV ","INVE" "OIGO","ESCU" "DESC" "ARRA" "PULS","APRI" "PONG" "TECL" "DOY " "METO","INTR" "GIRO"
New version
Part 1
Objects
"MESA","AZUFRE","SALITRE","SABLE","MONEDAS","CABEZAS DE PIEDRA","CAZADOR","CASCO","ESPANTAPAJAROS" "PUEBLO","ARENA","PAJAROS","KELON EL DRUIDA","MATORRALES","ARBUSTOS","HOYO EN EL SUELO","AGUJERO EN EL TECHO","MONOS TIRANDOTE COCOS","CARBON","POLVORA","CERILLA","ESCUDO"
Verbs
"MIRA","EXAM" "VE ","ENTR","CAMI" "COGE" "DEJA" "I ","INVE" "TIRA","ARRO","ECHA" "HABL" "EMPU","MUEV" "PONT" "CORT" "MEZC","JUNT" "ESCA","TREP" "N ","S ""E ""O " "LLAM" "ENCI" "ABRE" "MATA","ROMP" "CAVA" "BUSC" "Q " "SALG","SAL "
Part 2
Objects
Objetos "TRAMPILLA EN EL SUELO","TONELES","ORQUILLA","FREGADERA","BASURERA","CASCARA","PLANTAS","TUBERIAS","BOTON DE ALARMA","LLAVE" "TRAMPILLA ABIERTA","GUARDIAN INCONSCIENTE","TRAJE","PAPEL","ARMARIO","PAPIRO","GUARDIAS","GUARDIAS","GUARDIAS","GUARDIAS" "PUERTA","SOLDADO VIGILANDO EL AVION","GENTE ESPERANDO","CERRADURA PARA ARRANCAR"
Verbs
"MIRA","EXAM" "VE ","CAMI","ENTR","E ","O ","N ","S " "COGE" "DEJA" "I ","INVE" "OYE ","ESCU" "DESC" "ARRA" "PULS","APRI" "PONT" "TECL" "DA ","DALE" "METE","INTR" "GIRA" "ABRE" "SAL ","SALG" "Q " "MATO","ROMP" "BUSC"
Here’s a link to all the files, which will inevitably self-destruct over time (share ’em while they’re up!): http://www.filedropper.com/wamwort
Thanks to David Calandra aka Baluba/Nokrum for sharing with us the game and related documents.
More to come! Don’t forget to follow @retro_LEL on Twitter and, if you’re fluent on Spanish, subscribe to TheRealPatete on YouTube to never miss the latest news.
